A Brief History of the Calendar

by David Harper, PhD, FRAS

Old Style, New Style

The new calendar was accepted without delay in Italy, Poland, Spain and
Portugal, all of whom adopted it on the date stipulated in
Inter gravissimus. France and Belgium moved to the new
calendar in December 1582. The Catholic regions of Germany, Austria and
Switzerland moved during 1583 and 1584; other regions of those countries
waited in some cases until 1701.

In England, memories were still fresh in 1582 of Henry VIII's split from
the Church of Rome. Elizabeth I had been excommunicated by an earlier
Pope in just such an apostolic letter as Inter gravissimus.
Nonetheless, the calendar reform met a sympathetic attitude on the part of
the secular authorities. The Queen referred the matter to John Dee, a noted
mathematician, who responded favourably. Dee's verdict was passed in turn to
the astronomer Thomas Digges, Henry Savile, a patron of the sciences, and a
Mr Chambers. All three endorsed Dee. The matter was then referred in March
1583 to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was invited to confer with his
bishops and return a reply as quickly as possible, as the Queen intended to
make a proclamation in May of the following year to announce the adoption
of the new calendar.

The Queen and her ministers did not receive the favourable reply that they
had hoped for. The response from the English churchmen was full of invective
against the Pope, who was denounced as the Antichrist. It was argued that what
was done by the Council of Nicaea could only be undone by another council at
which all the churches took part. The Council of Trent was not such a
council, and since the Protestant churches regarded the Pope as Antichrist,
they could never enter into dialogue with the Catholic church. There could be
no second Council of Nicaea.

England would remain with the Old Calendar for another 170 years, ten days
(eleven from 1700) behind of the rest of Europe and observing the New Year on
March 25th. Letters to Europe carried two dates, one in the Old Style
and one in the New Style.

Historians who study English events and dated documents prior to 1752 must
be careful when interpreting dates. As an example, the letter from Sir Thomas
Walsingham to the Archbishop of Canterbury asking, on behalf of the Queen, for
his views on the calendar reform, was dated March 18th, 1582. This is an
English date, in the Julian calendar. On the Continent, the year 1583 had
already begun in January, and countries which had adopted the new calendar
were ten days ahead. In Rome, the date was March 28th, 1583.

In the English calendar, the year changed on March 25th, a date which
marked the Annunciation or Lady Day. This date, together with June 24th
(Midsummer Day), September 29th (Michaelmas) and December 25th, is
one of the quarter-days when rents and other quarterly charges are
traditionally paid.

Thus in England, March 24th, 1582 was followed by March 25th, 1583.
Historians and genealogists generally write these dates as March 24th,
1582/3 and March 25th, 1583. When writing about events in England and
the Continent in the period after 1582, it is also common to indicate an
English Julian date with the words "Old Style" and a Continental
Gregorian date as "New Style".

Reason finally prevailed over religious antagonism. In 1751, Parliament
approved the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. By this time, the Julian
calendar was eleven days out of step, and so September 2nd, 1752 was
followed by September 14th. The same Act of Parliament decreed that
from 1752, the year should begin on January 1st.

The old calendar still lives on in the British tax year. This ends on
April 5th each year, which is March 25th in the Old Style, plus
eleven days.